How Do Employer Practices Affect Economic Mobility?

Abstract

How can employers facilitate economic mobility for workers, particularly workers of color or those without a college degree? The authors integrate a fragmented literature to assess how employers’ practices affect enhanced economic security and mobility. This article first identifies three pathways linking employers’ practices to mobility: improving material job quality, increasing access to better jobs for historically marginalized workers, and promoting sustainability of employment. The authors provide a critical assessment of the research literature on recruitment and hiring practices; pay and wages; promotion practices; scheduling; leaves; diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives; and work systems as these practices relate to economic mobility. They then identify strategic questions and feasible designs for enhancing future research on these questions in order to guide policy and management practice.